Find aBusiness Opportunity

Perfect Pitching, Coming in a Pill

Although it has a genetic component, most believe that perfect pitch â€” or absolute pitch â€” is a primarily a function of early life exposure and training in music, says Takao Hensch, professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard.

Hensch is studying a drug which might allow adults to learn perfect pitch by re-creating this critical period in brain development. Hensch says the drug, valprioc acid, allows the brain to absorb new information as easily as it did before age 7.

“It’s a mood-stabilizing drug, but we found that it also restores the plasticity of the brain to a juvenile state,” Hensch tells NPR’s Linda Wertheimer.